CopperCom in meltdown?

Softswitch vendor CopperCom has laid off more than half of its staff and is in active discussions with several private investors to keep it afloat.

In a prepared statement, CEO Mike Myers, said the company is continuing to support its customers and that the funding issue was a short-term situation from which it will emerge.

The news comes, ironically, after the company has made a series of customer announcements. Last week, the Boca Raton, Fla.-based vendor announced that its CSX 1100 local exchange softswitch system had been approved for a Rural Utilities Service field trial with Lost Nation-Elwood Telephone Company, an independent telco based in Lost Nation, Iowa. Additionally, the company had applied for RUS approval that was to have opened it up several potential new telco customers.

The vendor, which has had its greatest success with small telcos and CLECs, has raised more than $200 million since its founding in 1997 from VCs including Advent International, Advanced Technology Ventures, AT&T Ventures and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Venture Partners. Last year the company brought in Myers, who was president of Alcatel’s broadband networking group, to replace Cynthia Ringo, who left to head up the now-defunct Pluris, Inc.